Taeyoung Jeong’s mummified corpse lay scattered on the floor.
The hunters looked at Baalcherit with terrified eyes.
Who knew the vice guild leader of the Fire Bird Guild would meet such an easy death?
Witnessing death, their chances of survival seemed slim.
When everyone was trembling, wondering who would be next, Baalcherit wiped the bloodstains from her mouth with her sleeve and slowly looked around at the hunters.
Satisfaction flickered in her glowing red eyes.
“Hmm, I’m full.”
The hunters’ tension eased slightly at her words. Baalcherit turned her gaze to the Minotaurus Chieftain.
“Chieftain, help the Death Knight and start the dungeon construction.”
“Moo?”
Suddenly being told to perform siege construction.
The Minotaurus Chieftain looked at Baalcherit with a confused expression.
“I need more labor now!”
Baalcherit exclaimed with a confident voice.
“This dungeon will be extensively remodeled! More magnificent and powerful than Celia! We need to install traps and lure in loyal monsters!”
The flame of ambition burned in her eyes.
The will to reclaim the glory of the dungeon she once possessed emanated from her entire body.
* * *
The captured hunters then began to break down the maze walls with pickaxes.
“Clink! Clink!”
They swung their pickaxes according to the instructions of the Lich, whose words they didn’t understand.
While everyone swung their pickaxes, some hunters approached Team Leader Namgung Hyuk.
“Um… Team Leader?”
With the vice guild leader’s death, the Fire Bird Guild’s extermination team was suddenly without a leader. Team Leader Namgung Hyuk, who had the next highest authority in the extermination team, naturally became the center of their focus.
“Are we allowed to stay here?”
The hunter’s voice trembled.
The question of whether they were allowed to stay here.
It implied a hidden meaning: wouldn’t they eventually die like the vice guild leader if they stayed here?
“Hoo.”
Namgung Hyuk wasn’t so foolish as to not understand that.
They wouldn’t kill them for providing labor in this manner now, but he didn’t know how long that would last.
“If we all attack together, can’t we escape?”
“……”
Namgung Hyuk remained silent at the question.
It wasn’t a suggestion to repel monsters by attacking together.
Let’s escape.
Let’s have at least some hunters escape and get out of the dungeon.
It was a hopeful question that if they could do so, they could inform the outside world of what was happening here.
But Namgung Hyuk shook his head.
“The possibility is too slim.”
There were already three A-Rank monsters in the current work area alone.
Death Knight, Goblin Lord, Minotaurus Chieftain.
In addition to the B-Rank monster Lich, there were also monsters like Hobgoblins and Skeleton Knights, along with various goblins and undead-type monsters.
Of course, they were also working with pickaxes, but the three A-Rank monsters were too formidable.
They might just die a pointless death if they made a mistake.
“Let’s cooperate for now. If we don’t respond for a certain amount of time, the rear support team will inform the outside.”
Namgung Hyuk reassured the guild members by saying that for now.
But would anything change?
‘There are four A-Rank monsters in the dungeon.’
Excluding the beings present here, there was also a vampire named Baalcherit. And Namgung Hyuk heard it clearly.
‘Celia…’
Celia’s name came from Baalcherit’s mouth.
He didn’t know who Celia was. One thing was for sure: Celia was bound to have power comparable to Baalcherit.
If there were more such beings in the dungeon, it wouldn’t be strange if the rear support team had already been captured.
This dungeon was that strange.
‘What on earth is the true nature of this dungeon?’
Normally, the dungeon’s master is the most powerful being.
That was the common sense until now.
So, if the dungeon master was an A-Rank monster, it was originally normal for the monsters below it to be A-Rank or lower.
But this dungeon was different.
‘Could there be a rank beyond that?’
A monster rank that hasn’t officially appeared yet.
S-Rank.
If, just if, an S-Rank monster actually existed, it wouldn’t be just the Fire Bird Guild’s problem.
It would be a major incident that could escalate into a national crisis.
‘I really hope that’s not the case.’
As his pickaxe work slowed down due to a moment of thought, the Lich approached and said something.
“Clack!”
(Grrr!)
Namgung Hyuk and the hunters had no choice but to resume their work.
He didn’t know how much time had passed.
Namgung Hyuk continued to swing his pickaxe, breaking down the maze walls.
Even as an A-Rank hunter, his body ached from working continuously without rest.
Moreover, it was the walls of the dungeon’s maze.
Their strength was higher than normal walls, so the fatigue accumulated much more.
However, he couldn’t stop. If he stopped even for a moment, the Lich would growl and approach him, and the Death Knight would perform a strange action of stroking the Lich’s head.
‘What on earth is the plan for destroying these walls?’
Isn’t a complex labyrinth more advantageous for defending a dungeon?
Namgung Hyuk couldn’t understand what the dungeon master was thinking by ordering this.
Perhaps it was because he was confident in his abilities that he was removing the maze.
“Gurgle! Swing faster!”
The Goblin Lord shouted.
The hunters focused on their work silently. They had neither the courage nor the strength to resist.
Their hearts grew darker. The hope of being rescued from the outside was fading.
They had pinned their hopes on the rear support team, but seeing that nothing had happened so far, they were surely done for.
Moreover, this was a maze. Even if they were breaking down walls, it was a drop in the bucket compared to the entire maze.
Most importantly, with the absence of the vice guild leader, it was unclear what actions the guild would take.
‘There might be no hope left…’
Just as he was being consumed by despair, footsteps were heard from beyond the maze.
Not just one or two people.
The footsteps of several people echoed off the maze walls. Everyone’s attention turned there.
“Wh-who is it?”
Even the undead monsters took a defensive stance, and the goblins drew their weapons.
However, the Death Knight and the Goblin Lord looked surprisingly relaxed.
A group appeared from the maze passage.
“Everyone!”
Namgung Hyuk’s eyes widened at the sight.
“Yerin Jeong…?”
Why had Yerin Jeong come here?
She had been suspended from her team leader position due to disciplinary action and was currently unable to enter the dungeon, yet she appeared here.
Although her appearance brought some gladness, Namgung Hyuk’s expression turned grim.
‘The guild doesn’t know anything.’
Yerin Jeong is a B-Rank Healer.
The fact that she brought her team meant that she didn’t properly know the situation of this dungeon.
‘Damn it!’
The hope of rescue was gone.
Perhaps they would be forced to wield pickaxes like them.
“Clack! Clack!”
As if that wasn’t enough, the Lich moved its jawbone and shouted.
At that moment.
Tap-
The Death Knight hit the Lich’s head. It was like a gesture to be quiet.
“……?”
What was this?
Come to think of it, all the monsters were just holding their weapons and standing still.
Normally, a battle could break out at any moment, but they were just confronting each other.
Namgung Hyuk looked at Yerin Jeong again.
A man standing beside her caught his eye.
‘Skeleton?’
There was a skeleton next to the man.
‘A Necromancer?’
He didn’t know the man’s name, but he knew one thing.
‘He was said to be the advisor to Yerin Jeong’s team.’
The advisor Yerin Jeong had recruited.
Because of that, there were many rumors circulating within the guild for a while.
Rumors ranging from him being Yerin Jeong’s partner to him being a truly hidden expert.
“…….”
But something was strange. It was strange for a Necromancer to have only one summoned skeleton.
Moreover, that single skeleton didn’t look ordinary.
Light shimmered around its bones.
And most importantly, the Death Knight and the Goblin Lord looked startled upon seeing them.
‘What is it?’
As he had that thought, the man standing next to Yerin Jeong whispered low at the skeleton. His lips moved, but what he said couldn’t be heard.
As soon as the words were spoken, the skeleton moved its sword.
“……?!”
Just then. The skeleton took a step forward and charged forward with lightning speed. Its target was the Death Knight.
Whoosh-
The sword cut through the air, drawing a dark trajectory.
The Death Knight, with a surprised look, raised its pickaxe to block the attack.
Thump-!
The weapons of the two monsters collided, creating a shockwave. Dust and gravel scattered around.
“Wh-what is it?!”
Namgung Hyuk shouted without realizing it.
The sight of a single skeleton attacking the Death Knight was incomprehensible to common sense.
It was like an ant attacking an elephant.
But something more surprising happened. The Death Knight was pushed back.
The A-Rank monster, the Death Knight, was actually being pushed back by the skeleton’s attack.
“Gurgle!”
The Goblin Lord raised its mana gun and aimed it at the skeleton.
In an instant, the skeleton’s movements became more agile. It spun like a dancer, pushing aside the Death Knight’s pickaxe, and then aimed its sword at the Goblin Lord.
Boom-!
Blue mana swirled from the Goblin Lord’s mana gun and was fired, but it missed the skeleton, striking the maze wall and causing a small explosion.
Namgung Hyuk couldn’t close his mouth.
That skeleton was not merely a familiar. It was like… a living warrior.
“Is that… that skeleton going to face the Death Knight and the Goblin Lord?”
As combat broke out among the monsters, the other monsters also seemed confused.
Meanwhile, Yerin Jeong and the man beside her seemed completely unfazed. They maintained a calm composure as if all of this was expected.
Namgung Hyuk’s gaze shifted back to the man. And he realized.
‘As expected, is this the talent recruited as an advisor?’
Hope surged. Perhaps there was a chance of escape.
“Everyone!”
Yerin Jeong’s voice echoed through the maze.
Everyone was disoriented by the dust from the mana gun hitting the maze wall.
“Come over here everyone! Now’s the chance!”
Namgung Hyuk hesitated for a moment at her words. However, he couldn’t miss this opportunity while the skeleton was keeping the two A-Rank monsters in check.
“Everyone, move towards Team Leader Yerin Jeong!”
At Namgung Hyuk’s command, the hunters began to move. One by one, they threw down their pickaxes and ran towards Yerin Jeong.
And then, everything unfolded slowly in Namgung Hyuk’s eyes.
The sight of the skeleton overpowering the two monsters, Yerin Jeong’s calm expression, and the deep gaze of the man beside her.
‘Now the vice guild leader is dead.’
And Namgung Hyuk felt that Yerin Jeong and that man would now take that place.
* * *
While walking through the dungeon maze with Yerin Jeong, he heard the sound of walls being broken.
They went to find the source of that sound.
There, the Fire Bird Guild’s hunters were swinging pickaxes at the walls.
The Death Knight and the Goblin Lord were supervising them.
‘Is that a Minotaurus?’
Seeing a being that looked like a Minotaurus nearby, it seemed Baalcherit had well-controlled the dungeon.
“Everyone!”
Yerin Jeong’s voice echoed through the dungeon.
At her cry, they began to look at Yerin Jeong and me, who were at the front.
‘It’s starting now.’
From now on, they had to start a sophisticated play.
I casually looked at the Death Knight and the Goblin Lord and nodded slightly.
They had already worked with me before, so they would surely do well.
‘The only regret is that Necros is not here.’
Unlike last time, the Arch Lich Necros was not present.
Although the Lich had taken his place, it was doubtful whether it would perform as well as Necros.
Still, it couldn’t be helped.
My purpose for entering the dungeon was, after all, to make Yerin Jeong a hero.
“Maru, you know, right?”
I whispered softly. Maru nodded at my words and then drew his sword and stepped forward.
Thump-!
Maru’s demonic sword and the Death Knight’s pickaxe collided with a roar.
But this was a play.
A well-written play.
Normally, only sound would be heard, and dust wouldn’t scatter.
However.
“……!”
I saw it.
The Lich secretly sprinkling sand from behind the Death Knight.
‘No, that guy.’
Perhaps this was the moment a acting genius, surpassing Necros, was born.
